Kobe silences Cuban with win
Lakers within 212⁄ games of playoff spot; Anthony, Stoudemire power Knicks past 76ers
DALLAS (Reuters) – Kobe Bryant fired back at Dallas owner Mark Cuban with 38 points as he lifted the Los Angeles Lakers past the Mavericks 103-99 on Sunday.
After Cuban recently suggested the Lakers should consider waiving Bryant and his league-high salary next season, the five-time NBA champion showed his worth with an artistic display of clutch shooting and all-around effort that included 12 rebounds and seven assists.
“It was a big win for us,” Bryant told reporters after finishing with 14 fourthquarter points to seal the triumph.
Dallas (25-30) led 90-87 midway through the fourth quarter but visiting Los Angeles nosed ahead with a seven-nil run led by Bryant and Steve Nash who finished with 20 points.
The victory was the third straight for Los Angeles (28-29) who moved within 21⁄ games of a Western Conference playoff
2 spot that Bryant has guaranteed the team will secure.
The Mavericks, 10th in the West, are also battling for a spot and Dirk Nowitzki put up 30 points and 13 rebounds.
Cuban’s comments centered around the NBA’s “amnesty clause,” which allows a team to release a player and avoid paying taxes on their salary.
The Mavericks owner has said that his suggestion was just hypothetical, while the Lakers released a statement saying such talk was “inappropriate.”
Bryant silenced all talk in the fourth where he made three straight difficult jump shots to leave the Dallas crowd murmuring.
Bryant and Nash combined for 11 of the last 12 Lakers’ points to make up for a quiet day from Dwight Howard who battled foul trouble and had nine points and 13 rebounds.
Bryant was following up a 40-point game in Friday’s win against Portland.
Knicks 99, Sixers 93
NEW YORK – Faced with the challenge of turning the Knicks back into the title contender they believe they are, Mike Woodson said there was only one true remedy to his team’s problems.
“A win,” he said before Sunday night’s game, “might solve all of that.”
Well, what the Knicks delivered Sunday night at Madison Square Garden wasn’t pretty, nor was it convincing, but you can say this much with certainty – it was a win, one the Knicks say they desperately needed.
Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points and Amar’e Stoudemire a season-high 22, shooting 9-for-10 off the bench, as the Knicks beat the 76ers, 99-93. Anthony shot only 6-for-18 from the field but made 16 of 18 free throws.
The Knicks ended a season-high fourgame losing streak.
But that the final score was even close was a frustrating subtext, considering the Knicks (33-20) had led by 20 points and seemed certain to pull away several times.
Jrue Holiday, who is quickly turning into a player who likes facing the Knicks, scored 30 as the 76ers (22-32) kept themselves in the game all night. The 76ers, losers of five in a row, were playing a back-to-back after facing the Heat at home Saturday night.
Before the game, 76ers coach Doug Collins predicted his team might be in for a rough night, saying he expected the Knicks’ slump would make their veterans “very testy, very edgy, very defensiveminded.”
Collins was proven right, especially midway through the third quarter.
Tempers flared then between Anthony, Tyson Chandler and 76ers center Spencer Hawes, resulting in a brief skirmish. It started when Anthony and Hawes fought for position under the basket.
Anthony grew frustrated after getting hit in the chest by Hawes’ elbow, and he retaliated by smacking Hawes in the back of the neck.
Angered, Hawes got into Anthony’s face. Chandler rushed to his teammate’s defense, shoving Hawes away and escalating matters. But the officials quickly got in the middle of everyone in front of the Knicks’ bench, ending it there.
Woodson thought the on-court display of emotions might have been a result of the losing streak, but stressed that Anthony has to get a handle on his emotions.
“I don’t want to see guys get suspended or fined for throwing punches or anything of that nature,” Woodson said. “When you lose four in a row, and we haven’t done that very often, you are on edge a little bit. It is my job as the coach to relax [them].”
Anthony was given a flagrant foul, and Hawes and Chandler received technicals.
The Knicks had a 14-point lead at the point of the scuffle, which was down from 20 earlier in the quarter, and after the incident, the lead continued to shrink. Behind Holiday, the 76ers pulled to within nine (76-67) at the end of the third.
But Stoudemire, enjoying his best allaround game of the season, scored eight points as the Knicks began the fourth quarter on an 11-4 run, opening a 16point lead. Although the 76ers refused to go away all night, pulling within five late, the Knicks kept their intensity and focus intact.
“Bottom line, we had to win,” Woodson said. “This was a must win for us.”